A constitutional amendment to mandate quarterly payments to the pension system could have “potentially cataclysmic consequences” on the quality of life in New Jersey, according to a new report, requiring more than $3 billion in tax increases by 2022. Salvador Rizzo, The Record Read more
Did the panel also call for the cutting of the Gov double dipping staff and all the other double dippers like our sheriff. How about Judges, members of the Legal of Manciples and their lobbies? There a lot of fat to be cut just not one section.
Payback that money that all the Gov. took from the pension plan and then do the recomadations .
If they cut the medical befits for the workers is the state required to full fund the pension ever year or is going to be that the state is going to take money from you pension and then when the state can’t pay it back the state is going to cut your benefits to make up the difference.
Double dipping should be illegal
There is no shortage of Trenton lobbyists, lawmakers, analysts and political aides who fear that an angry, resentful Christie will return and lash out at his critics and perceived enemies and punish those who refused to donate to his campaign or jumped ship to other Republican candidates.
Reform the pension system in a way that honors public employees’ years of service while also being fiscally responsible.
panel calls for cutting public workers’ health benefits
NEVER GONNA HAPPEN!
One person, one pension. If the greedy finger public employees like Sheriff Saudino want to milk the system for all it’s worth by filling more than one position, we’ll have to accept that. But he is one man, and should earn only one pension. Not two, not three and I have even heard as many as three.
Grandfather the cuts in over time and no double dipping. Ido not believe our absentee governor will stop double dipping as i’am sure he will soon be doing the same.
Makes sense to shift all current employees to bronze plans by 2020 when the 40% excise tax kicks in on platinum plans as defined by the ACA (95% of essential care covered). Over 90% of Village employees have platinum plans now which can cost up to $26,000 a year for a family plan. A 40% tax on top of that is an additional $10,400. Who pays that from 2020? It’s a legitimate question that any reasonable taxpayer deserves to know the answer to.
Sure is GONNA happen 8:15. Health benefits are not your right and enjoy no constitutional protection under NJ state law.
Where did all this money go that was taken from the state pension? Anyone see a property tax rebate check in Ridgewood cuz I’ve been paying more and more every year. Where’s the money gone?
stolen by your friends in Trenton
You mean Sweeney, Sanzari… I mean Sarlo, and Prieto? The three amigos of the Apocolypse for NJ State finances. $17bn in TTF debt. $80bn unfunded pension hole using generous assumptions. $84bn PAYGO health benefit liability. These guys have rung up some nice credit card bills funding their pet projects. I’m amazed they’re not all in jail.
I work for the town and I pay into my health benefit,s . and my tax,s in ridgewood are still going up. it,s all bull shit.
Hey, if you want to retire at 52 after 25 years, feel free. But you shouldn’t be able to draw on your pension until age 62, and you should only get one municipal or state pension, can’t have all these double dippers collecting multiple pensions like Saudino
6 N.J. governors, including Chris Christie, are to blame for state’s pension crisis: Opinion
governors-column.jpg
Former Governors and Acting Governors Brendan Byrne, Jim Florio, Tom Kean, Christine Todd Whitman, Donald DiFrancesco, Richard Codey and Jon S. Corzine were seated on the stage during the 2010 inauguration of Gov. Chris Christie at the War Memorial in Trenton. Whitman, DiFrancesco, Codey, Corzine, Christie and Jim McGreevey are among the six New Jersey governors who did not bank the state’s required contributions each year to the state’s pension funds while in office. (AMANDA BROWN/THE STAR-LEDGER)
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Star-Ledger Guest Columnist By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
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on January 16, 2015 at 2:00 PM, updated January 16, 2015 at 3:41 PM
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By Sean Rutherford
New Jersey’s state pension fund is going broke. Apparently, in 10 years the fund will be empty and those belonging to the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF) will be out of luck. And when you ask any politician why this is happening, we get variations of this response: “The state’s public employees are bankrupting us with their salaries and benefits plans.”
This is where I draw the line. As a teacher, I have contributed every dime I was supposed to into my pension. Yet, for some reason our state government hasn’t. Where did this all start? Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. She took office in 1994 and decided that in order to achieve a balanced state budget, as required by law, she would reduce the amount of money contributed to the pension fund. In 1997, she decided the state should borrow $2.75 billion from the fund and use it elsewhere. As time went on, she contributed a mere fraction of what was necessary to replace those funds and meet the needs of the pension system. For the next half decade, the state as a whole contributed an average of $23 million per year. The calculations and formulas showed the state should have contributed an average of $600 million per year to keep up with the demand. This trend continued with each new governor that took office: Donald DiFrancesco, James McGreevey, Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and our current governor, Chris Christie.
What has been the penalty to any of these individuals? Nothing. In fact, some were promoted to higher positions, such as Whitman, who was named administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and others, many of whom live a rich life with all their money made in banking and finance. It’s ironic: individuals who made millions for themselves can’t aid the state the same way. It seems knowledge of investments and money management go out the window when you’re a politician. I guess it’s different when you can spend other people’s money and not your own.
The matter at hand will continue to be blamed on the state’s employees. We will be made out to be the bad guys. The sad part is that younger employees will be burdened even more than I am. I’ve only been a teacher for five years and my pension told me I should wait 39 years and 11 months before I should even think about retiring. I’ll be 70 years old by then. What can be done to fix this? I would love a class-action lawsuit from every state employee against those six New Jersey governors, but what would come of it? They’ll never be able to repay the money and correct the system.
What has been the penalty to any of these individuals? Nothing. In fact, some were promoted to higher positions.
Maybe I can aim for something a little more practical. Perhaps our lawmakers can create legislation forcing state government to contribute their share into the pension fund every year. Far too often, it seems, different levels of government mismanage money and push the consequences of those actions back on taxpayers. I didn’t bankrupt the pension fund. I didn’t bankrupt the state’s transportation fund. I didn’t bankrupt social security. Yet, all we hear is how taxes will increase to fix politicians’ errors.
As a high school business teacher, I find it incredibly fascinating that students in my Financial Literacy class better understand the basics of money management than our elected officials: “Money must come in before it can go out.” Maybe the next governor of New Jersey should take my course. After all, it is a graduation requirement as per the state Department of Education.
Sean Rutherford teaches business courses and World History courses at Belleville High School. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Business Management and Political Science, and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership.
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What went wrong?
New Jersey’s pension funds were flush at the turn of the 21st century. But since 1996, governors from both parties have been underfunding the system, making payments far below what actuaries recommend.
The state skipped payments altogether from 2001 to 2004, when the annual required contribution called for $2.8 billion. And while the state was taking a pension holiday, it increased benefits for employees.
Ledger Live animates NJ’s pension mess Ledger Live for Monday March 28th, 2011 – Ledger Live with Brian Donohue. On today’s show: We explain New Jersey’s state pension, the mess we’re in, and how the state got to this point – the simplest way we can: with cartoons.
Every time the state doesn’t make a full payment, it’s like paying only the minimum on your credit card bill while continuing to charge stuff. So while the ultimate cost of pensions grows, partial payments by the state in one year makes the next payment even bigger — and harder for the state to make. It’s multiplied like crazy for the last decade.
The stock market had a hand in it, too. New Jersey lost $20 billion in the dot-com bust between 2000 and 2003, according to the Hall Institute of Public Policy, and was knocked around again by the Great Recession.
You can post all the articles you want to clog up the blog posts but it doesn’t mean a constitutional requirement to make quarterly contributions to the pension fund – something no other state in the country has – won’t require $4 billion in additional tax revenues just to preserve the broken status quo that has led us in to this mess. Maybe if your pension was a defined contribution plan like a 401(k)- or 403(b) plan, the politicians wouldn’t be able to meddle because the assets would be yours and yours alone?
Pretty simple and correct 8:51. The simple fact is that the union thugs just don’t get the fact that the good citizens of NJ are done with the dog and pony show….it’s over. we dont care what has happen in the past. thats done. its today and we are NOT going to be robbed by you scumbags for another day longer. welcome to our reality…and yours.
It still stuns me how the union thugs just think their unsustainable pension and health benefits are acceptable even though privately they all admit their deal is too good. Time to diminish excessive benefits that were not negotiated in good faith. How many more 50 years olds drawing +$100K annual pensions and $26,000 family health benefit plans can state & municipal tax payers afford?
Nice wet dream you have there 1:31pm. The fact is your gonna pay no matter if you want to or not. The good citizens of NJ were not paying attention to the shell games going on in Trenton. That was stupid and now you get to pay the stupid tax. It’s jackasses like you who want to place the blame for something on someone else besides yourself. Not gonna happen this time. Nice try though.
So let me get this right: Sweeney and Prieto want to enshrine public worker pension payments in the state constitution, above all other NJ residents? Paying for those pensions would be more important than anything else in the state budget, including schools, seniors, hospitals and roads. The burden of the cost for this – $3B~$4B per year – would be put on the backs of all taxpayers. However, taxpayers – who do not receive anything close to these levels of benefits in their lives – would be required to pay for exactly what the public sector unions demand, i.e. Platinum health benefit plans and excessive and unsustainable pensions for life? Nice Ponzi like deal. Work for 25 years and contribute less than 10% of your wages to your own pension. And then collect a pension worth 60-65% of your final three (highest) years avg comp, including longevity pay, for more years than you actually contributed to the system. Add in tax payer subsidized Platinum health benefits worth up to $26,000 a year for Family plans, and the reality for the minority of public workers has nothing to do with the reality faced by the great majority of NJ residents. Why on earth would NJ favor public workers over every one else in its constitution and state budget?
So your solution 11:50 is higher taxes…. in the highest taxed state in the nation? Or we can just retire from residing in NJ and move to PA or NY like the 2 million net migrants out of NJ since 2004 based on actual IRS data, yep that’s right, read it and weep…. https://www.njbia.org/docs/default-source/pdf-files/njbiaoutmigrationreport.pdf Have fun paying for your excessive pension and health benefits when there’s no money left. It would be a great move for NJ to favor pension payments for public workers and retirees over all other spending in the state budget, paid for by all state residents through $3 billion in new taxes. Have fun with that.
11:50, the Democrats who’ve been destroying the state from their perch in Trenton for 30+ years are there because you and your union hack friends & family have voted them in in return for excessive pension & health benefits for public workers.You pigged out at the trough filled with the unsustainable slop of your own creation. And now you want all state taxpayers to bail out public workers and retirees on these excessive benefits above the interests of everyone else including seniors, students, and the sick, unemployed and disabled? Oink oink.
an you continue to stick up for the Hudson County Democrat Machine that has taken over Ridgewood , so what gives????
Union workers account for appx 17% of the labor force in NJ. NJ labor force participation rate is in the 80% range… so labor is appx 13% of the adult voting population…. so why do they have such clout? Maybe it’s a matter of the republican party not bothering to run candidates who appeal to enough voters? Or the majority of people just don’t care? Also the state consists of some voters who are lever monkeys and just vote down 1 column in a freudian style.
money dues = political donations
Dues= donations is true. But, the RNC is swimming in cash… you don’t see much of it here… why? The GOP has to invest in local elections and have electable candidates… and it’s not happenin’
none goes to NJ they even work with Democrats to oust Garrett
How is it that 18% of NJ’s working population – the union thugs – are trying to declare this state the Soviet Republic of NJ? They want a constitutional amendment giving their pension payments priority over all other spending in the state budget, to be funded by new taxes from all taxpayers of NJ. So their pensions are more important than seniors, students, hospitals, state roads, and will be paid for by all tax payers to benefit only 17% of NJ’s labor force, the public workers. What gives them the right to even think this is acceptable? Keep your greedy, grubby hands out of our pockets. If the Republicans don’t spend some of that RNC cash defeating this proposal, NJ will continue its race to the bottom.